Moor's head

"Maure" redirects here. For the commune in France, see Maure, Pyrénées-Atlantiques.

A Moor's head, also known as a Maure, since the 11th century, is a symbol depicting the head of a black moor. The term moor came to define anyone who was Muslim or had black skin.

Moor's head from Corsica's Flag

Origin

The precise origin of the Moor's head is a subject of controversy. The most likely explanation is that it is derived from the heraldic war flag of the Reconquista depicting the Cross of Alcoraz, symbolizing Peter I of Aragon and Pamplona's victory over the "Moorish" kings of the Taifa of Zaragoza in the Battle of Alcoraz in 1096. The blindfold may originally have been a headband.

Another theory claims that it is the Nubian Saint Maurice (3rd century AD).

The earliest heraldic use of the Moor's head is first recorded in 1281, during the reign of Peter III of Aragon and represents the Cross of Alcoraz, which the King adopted as his personal coat of arms. The Crown of Aragon had for a long time governed Sardinia and Corsica, having been granted the islands by the Pope, although they never really exercised formal control. The Moor's head became a symbol of the islands.

Flags, seals, and emblems

This symbol is used in heraldry, vexillography, and political imagery.

Flag of Corsica

The main charge in the coat of arms in Corsica is a U Moru, Corsican for "The Moor". An early version is attested in the 14th-century Gelre Armorial, where an unblindfolded Moor's head represents Corsica as a territory of the Crown of Aragon. Interestingly, the Moor's head is attached to his shoulders and upper body, and he is alive and smiling. In 1736, it was used by both sides during the struggle for independence.

In 1760, General Pasquale Paoli ordered the necklace to be removed from the head and the blindfold raised. His reason, reported by his biographers, was "Les Corses veulent y voir clair. La liberté doit marcher au flambeau de la philosophie. Ne dirait-on pas que nous craignons la lumière ?" (English: "The Corsicans want to see clearly. Freedom must walk by the torch of philosophy. Won't they say that we fear the light?") The blindfold was thereafter changed to a headband.

The current flag of Corsica is the Bandera testa Mora, 'Flag with head of Moor', is male rather than female, and has a regular knot at the back of the head.

SC Bastia

The Moor's head appears on the logo for the Corsican football team SC Bastia, who play in the French football system's Ligue 2.

Flag of Sardinia

The flag of Sardinia is informally known as the Four Moors (Italian: I quattro mori, Logudorese: Sos Bator Moros, Campidanese: Is Cuatru Morus) and comprises four Moor heads.

African Unification Front

The "Maure" is the African Unification Front's flag and emblem. The head is blindfolded representing the impartiality of justice, and the knot is tied into a stylized Adinkra symbol for omnipotence (Gye Nyame).

Modern controversy

Bottle of Mohrenbrauerei

Critics in Switzerland have characterized the use of the Moor's head as racist, when used as a symbol by a workers guild.

In 2012, activists requested the brewing company Mohrenbrauerei to remove the "Moor's head" from its bottles; the company declined, saying the design was part of heraldry used by the family who started the brewery.

Gallery

• 
  Coat of arms of Benedict XVI
• 
  Gelre Armorial, Folio 62r, 14th century
• 
  Flag of Linkebeek, Belgium
• 
  Tucher von Simmelsdorf in Antwerp
• 
  Coat of arms of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Archbishop of Munich and Freising, with Moor of Freising
• 
  Coat of arms of Alcanadre. La Rioja, Spain, depicting heads of slain Muslims after the Reconquista
• 
  Coat of Georg Gänswein during the Papacy of Benedict XVI
• 
  Coat of Avenches, Switzerland
• 
  Female Moor's head on the former coat of arms of the district of Möhringen in Stuttgart, Germany
• 
  The Scottish crest badge of Clan MacLellan featuring the head of Black Morrow
• 
  The current coat of arms of Aragon features four heads of Moors.
• 
  The flag of Sardinia
• 
  The Sardinian Flag until 1999
• 
  The Flag and coat of arms of Corsica
• 
  The coat of arms of the House of Treviño at the Palace of Medrano
• 
  The coat of arms of the Brotherhood of Blackheads
• 
  "A Blackamoor's Head" (Complete Guide to Heraldry, 1909)
• 
  Coat of the Kingdom of the Algarve, within Portugal

See also

• Blackamoor (decorative arts)
• Heads in heraldry
• Turk head (heraldry)
• Cross of Alcoraz

Further reading

• "Revisiting the Symbology of Europe's Moorish Heraldry". Black Research Central. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
• Fierro, Maribel (2008). "Decapitation of Christians and Muslims in the medieval Iberian Peninsula: Narrative, images, contemporary perceptions". Comparative Literature Studies. 45 (2): 137–164. doi:10.1353/cls.0.0020. JSTOR 25659647. S2CID 161217907. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
• "Heart of Independent Sardinia". giampiero6's Orgosolo Page. Retrieved April 22, 2005.
• "Sa Bandela de Sos Bator Moros", Sardinian Autonomous Region, retrieved April 22, 2005 which in turn cites
  • B. Fois (1990). Lo stemma dei quattro mori, breve storia dell'emblema dei Sardi. (editor Carlo Delfino) Sassari.
• "L'Histoire d'U Moru", Extraits de l'Ouvrage: "Trois Etudes Sur Paoli", retrieved April 22, 2005
• "U Moru (English translation)", Extracts from "Trois Etudes Sur Paoli", retrieved April 22, 2005

External links

• Media related to Moor heads in heraldry at Wikimedia Commons